Sanne Panne

People with umbrellas. Umbrellas.

Yes I fully expect to need some form of correction (lenses/glasses) again later in life but I doubt it would get as extreme as -8 (or a very high "plus" prescription) as easily. I feel so vulnerable now with my strong prescription. Am thinking crazy stuff like having to leave the house in an earthquake if I were to live in California again, or a house fire, or simply getting an eye infection or dry eyes in the future that would force me to wear glasses (with my current prescription swapping between lenses and glasses on the same day causes me bad headaches and dizziness). Um, earthquakes, maybe I need to see a head doctor first ;) Being able to see fairly well without glasses/lenses would be good and and being able to see well enough to not need any kind of glasses or lenses for the next 10 years would be great. Maybe I've answered my own question. Am just sad that it's unlikely that after surgery I'll have the same super sharp vision I have with lenses now, and the difference will probably be too small to permanently wear glasses or lenses (not even mentioning the investment in daily disposables while paying off the laser treatment) so I'll have to accept a slightly less perfect vision. Pff what a first world problem I have.

Absentminded, was it London Vision Clinic? I heard good very things about it but it's extremely expensive. The clinic I'm with now is very expensive too, I'm going to suffer financially if I do this, but London Vision is another 1/3 more expensive and I'd have to be sure it's better. And as no two cases are identical it's so difficult to know... Sue, I don't have an issue with dry eyes at all, I just thought intolerance to all-day lenses would be impossible to avoid at some point in the future. Your story sounds great though, bifocals that you can wear all day and evening. Lenses are an expensive business for me as I use daily disposables... and I'm now so spoiled that I don't want to do the daily cleaning business anymore so I don't want to to monthly lenses. Affordability is an issue but I can just about pull the laser treatment off. Choice is: convenience (daily lenses) versus extreme convenience (laser = no more lenses). Choice is also: reliability (always being able to see pretty well, i.e. laser) versus ridiculously good vision with a risk (i.e. seeing extremely well with contact lenses but being vulnerable to not seeing enough to even function normally if something for some reason I can't wear my lenses). Still not sure and booked in for this Saturday :)

Can't you arrange to have it redelivered so you can examine it at your door and decline if you wish? You don't need ID for a second delivery at your own address.

Thanks so much for the feedback so far. Loz, I have the same fear about the cornea, I will try to get more information about the current state of affairs, I should definitely get a second opinion if anything. There is one professor here in London (Harley Street of course) who uses a new machine that supposedly removes less of the cornea with the same results. Dulwichgirl2, I have no idea how hormones etc affect eyesight but even without that factor there's the constant "worsening" of prescription that does seem to slow down or stop in our 20s and 30s and maybe 40s but then indeed either reverses or makes you "go bifocal"... I doubt laser surgery would stop this although this Harley Street guy seems to have some kind of an answer to aging of the eye as well (this is not the provider I'm currently with). Santerme, do you see as well now as you did with glasses/contact lenses? To me, 20/20 is not really much, it's about the 4th line from the bottom at eye tests which would frustrate the living daylight out of me. Ontheedge, thanks for the recommendation, I may get a consultation at Moorfields as well. Sue, I was always told (by opticians) that nobody is really supposed to wear lenses from 7am to 10pm to begin with (not an option for me, I can't swap between lenses and glasses - glasses still make me feel dizzy after 2 full days of wearing them), and that our eyes may get increasingly less tolerant of the drying/irritating invasion that lenses are as we age, forcing us to take the lenses out after a number of hours and swapping to glasses with which I don't dare to drive or do anything not highly predictable. And you're not really what I would call old! I'm more thinking along the lines of my dad who is 80. But yes it's great to know that there is no particular reason why I should not be able to keep wearing lenses for another good while. Hm. What do I do?

Am considering having laser vision correction done on my -8.5 eyes. Considering the "top" treatment of the second most expensive provider with lifetime aftercare. Has anyone had laser vision correction done in the past few years? Better even, have you had it done on such a strong prescription? I can see extremely well with my daily disposable lenses, seems like my vision is sharper than anyone I know with either no prescription or the correct prescription, and am not sure I can live with "just" 20/20 vision which is "licence place reading" while I'm used to easily reading the penultimate line at the optician. On the other hand I'm not comfortable with how little I can see without my lenses. I recently had an eye infection and couldn't work a whole week as I'm extremely uncomfortable wearing glasses (they get me headaches and make me dizzy/nauseous) and as I age I will probably not be able to wear lenses all the time as I can now (at the tender age of 38). Does anyone have any relevant experience to share? thanks...

Crotch strap adjustment was a ma-jor pain for us but we did do it (on Techno XT). Don't remember how I did it (it was before winter), do remember that when I wanted to tighten it a bit after taking the footmuff off I gave up after 20 minutes.

Speaking of chicken nuggets, Waitrose (that is - Ocado, but I think it's Waitrose brand) has organic breaded "chicken fingers". Not too much guilt about those.

Good luck!

That sounds so tough. What have you tried so far and for how long have you tried each method? Not so we can "judge" but it may make this thread more efficient in getting you a couple of things you can try while you get professional help. How about booking an appointment with your GP and ask if there's anything they can do? I'm sure you can be referred in some way, the question is how quickly you will be seen on NHS. Or if you're willing and able to spend some money there are supposed to be "night nannies" for all ages.

I read the Marie Mongan book (pretty good but I couldn't fully get into the groove and genuinely believe that self-hypnosis during labour is realistic and desirable) and did one hypnotherapy session (which I didn't like, I told the therapist at the end that I had got into hypnosis but I really hadn't and spent most of the half hour being annoyed with the fact that she said "baby is coming out" rather than "your/the baby is coming out" - it was not any of the ladies mentioned above). I also read the Gentle Birth Method by Gowri Motha and liked that. I skipped the bits I wasn't into (homeopathy) but that didn't affect the value of the book at all. It definitely added to my confidence that late pregnancy, labour and birth were going to be fine. To me, the "scientific" bits in the "soft" books made a big difference in the build up to labour, they gave me about half the confidence I needed - the rest coming from a great pregnancy yoga course during which we talked about labour (in a very no nonsense way) almost as much as we stretched, the fantastic NCT course by Tess and the plain thought that everybody I've met and seen in my life has come out of a mother in some way so it must be doable. Had two very quick and easy births. I think all of the above helped. But (physionomical) luck is a big factor too. Was labour short and sweet because I was so friggin' brave and well prepared? Or did my body just cope with it more easily due to genetic factors? Has to be more of the latter than the former. There are too many variables to be able to tell what contributed to what. Good luck. Gowri Motha is worth reading if you have time.

Is the crotch bit adjustable? I noticed that as the child grows the buckle just has to sit higher and higher up the tummy. If you haven't extended that bit yet, doing it will buy you another 5-10cm. (and I assume you do have the shoulder straps in the highest slot in the backrest already).

Bit of a cliche maybe but was the world a safer place 30 years ago or are we just more aware of (and obsess more over) the dangers now? Weren't the more likely dangers (car accidents, abuse) the same back then and are we just more informed about the freak stuff (abduction, school shootings) via the media? Not that the answer makes the world a safer place and I'm certainly among the mildly obsessive wrt safety but I sometimes wonder if the good old times were really so much better in that respect.

Great news!

It was closed last Thu due to vandalism, has anyone been since?

I almost don't want to share my BF/FF story because it shouldn't make a difference. But since it's good to have as wide a range of experiences possible here I will add mine too. I had no struggle with BF at all for the first 3-4 months. Around that age my first got a very nasty cold and couldn't drink from the breast as well as she could from the bottle. Tiny feeds meant bad sleep and slow recovery. So we mixed-fed her for a while. Expressed milk and formula. After the cold passed she refused the breast. No big surprise. I fought the change for a while taking all kinds of supplements to get my supply up (fenugreek, oatmeal, motilium) and letting her get a bit hungry and when that didn't help I settled for a few sips from the breast and then the bottle (classical "mistake" I know) and that was the beginning of the end. Long story short: I'm sure I would have pulled it off if formula hadn't existed but instead I had a good think and decided that 3-4 months of breastmilk is fantastic (and I would have hopefully felt the same if this issue had occurred at any other point in time). I didn't decide that because I was so egoistic and uninformed. I did because I looked at my own individual chunky beaming child and remembered that statistics show an average and I was confident that OUR child had got what she needed. Similar story with baby 2 but with much less stress and doubt. I personally believe that a stressed baby that gets breastmilk is generally not better off than a content baby that gets formula. Not saying breastfeeding equals stress, not at all, my first months were easy. But emotional health is extremely important. For the long term happiness and confidence of the child as well as for its physical health. This is my personal belief, but maybe the "emotional health aids physical health" instinct plays a bigger role in many mothers' decisions than we think. And we should also not forget that many scientists and data analysts etc will happily only wave the numbers in your face that suit them. Seen to much of this. Failing to share as complete as possible a picture and claiming authority based on profession if you're not being professional is not cool, people. I don't think it's happened in this thread but I have seen it here and there. Sorry if this sounds off topic and patronising :-$

I think whichever way the public debates go there's probably too much discussion about it, just like whether you go back to work and when, making forum/research reading parents feel they can't get it right either way. Do one or the other confidently and stop waving research papers in other mothers' faces during the highly vulnerable newborn phase. We're not talking about whether to give our kids crack or not, we're debating whether the benefits of one type of milk outweigh those of the other. But yes much easier said than done with the baby days (and stress) behind me...

Thanks for the feedback all. Carbonara I'm not keen on Center Parks myself (ehm never been but am judging nevertheless) and my sister didn't sound too interested either. So far they seem most keen on Dorset (Lyme Regis) hoping to be able to do some snorkling, climbing etc there. LOL about the "Boden cricket games" at campsites prdarling! I think that when my brother in law hears this he'll say that in that case you might as well sleep in a proper bed ;) Speaking of camping, my husband suggested we take our 2 and 4 year olds camping "properly" this summer, i.e. to a tiny basic campsite with a few friends some of which also have kids - 2 or 3 nights in a family tent and another few nights in a log cabin. Am pretty excited about the idea. Anyway thanks again for the ideas (Sandy Balls, Kelling Heath, Camber Sands etc), will pass those on to my sister as well!

Thanks! A colleague recommended Elveden Center Parks in Suffolk, is that any good? I'm personally not much of a fan of "on site" holidays but my sister has been to a Club Med before and been fine with it...

My sister and her husband/kids are coming over from Holland this summer and wanted to combine a visit to us with a holiday somewhere in the South (of the UK). They will be driving so any destination within about 4-5 hours of London is fine. Husband is a self confessed snob (well, grain of salt there) so camping is out. The 8 year old is very active, masters any sport within 5 minutes, I can see him on a dirt bike track. The 10 year old would probably like being near the coast. My sister likes anything pretty and romantic. What destinations should they consider? I don't think they mind whether it's self catering or not. Thanks for any ideas!

To avoid hijacking this thread I'm wondering if anyone remembers a good discussion that was had on here about why it is ok to have church schools at all? I'm not from the UK and always wondered, please let's not start the discussion here but if there is a thread can we revive it and if there isn't one I'm happy to start one.

Try to suppress your inner control freak and allow your partner to do things his way.

Pickle Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > ... and don't iron muslins, life's too short :-$ Yes it is! But then we're a household in which only work shirts get ironed (and not by me). Lol! Thanks for coming out ;)

I used to think that the fact that I wanted to be "the nurse from the anaesthetics room" (after many, many minor but full anaesthetic operations in childhood) meant I wanted revenge/power but maybe it was a matter of respect/acceptance after all :) Saffron Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > When my niece developed a profound attachement to > her wicked witch doll from the Snow White film, a > psychologist friend told my sister-in-law that > secure attachment to the antagonist character > meant that the child had mastered her fear of it. > Very interesting! xx

MacLaren Techno XLR is very good for bigger children and does fold flat for newborns too. Easy umbrella fold. But if you're used to pneumatic tyres having just plain "rattling" wheels can be a bit of a disappointment.